Scales

NB: I work full time, and don't get back till late in the evenings, so I guess I count as a 'casual' player. That's another reason why this game works for me; I don't have to "grind for gear" like in WoW; I naturally get kit from being in awesome battles. Never done any grinding, I just log on in the evenings and have fun. Couldn't do that if I had to grind instances.

"Two characters with same levels - but one wearing itemlevel 10 - the other wearing item level 510. Thats what WAR is"

@deadalon: Individuals with uber leet kit don't really do much on their own. It's all about who you roll with, and your skill as a team. 1 on 1 it matters, of course; one person of the same class who goes against another of the same class but with much better kit will, of course, be fighting a tough battle. But really, this game is not about one on one combat. Seriously.
You should *always* consider the fight as a group battle. Heroics are great, only if you have other heros supporting you just as strongly, and you are there to support them.

As for the "endless grind of pvp taking fortresses", what exactly are you doing in FPS games? Endlessly grinding some levels to get a high score at the end? No persistent reward given even after playing for years? What's the point? Oh yes, that's it, because it's really goddamn FUN! ;)

Again, if you're finding you can't kill anyone because you don't have shinies on your armour, join a decent guild. As a side note, I actually found that a lot of my kit was donated to me. It's in a guilds interest to kit up their guildies. But even if not, being in a good team is worth more than ANY armour.

This game has given me the most epic, heroic and bonding gaming moments I have ever had and likely ever will for a very long time. I have been part of amazing teams of people and gone from not knowing them at all to fighting off hoards of Order against all odds in a keep to hold off a zone lock so that members of our alliance can lock another zone, and get to us with reinforcements whilst we push for a capital siege. Gear is ephemeral, it takes organisation, it takes people knowing their role, it takes a leader who can command the troops, it takes everyone in your team fighting like a Spartan... The number of times I've experienced the thrill of this 300-like battle is countless, and every time leaves me with adrenaline fuelled awesomeness! THAT's why I play this game!! Sod the gear, sod the rewards or the renown points - it's the raw epic FUN of the battle that calls me... :D

I just wanna make a point here about PvP in WAR and WoW...

Venekor said:
"The problem is when you play WAR is small group gameplay, you can never take on 3 vs 1 because the classes are so similar. You'll always lose because WAR is designed for the group to always win. However what makes WoW so fun is your skill level can mean you can take out groups if you're good enough and it makes the combat feel amazing."

Hang on a minute there m'laddo. "You can never take on 3v1 because the classes are so *similar*" combined with "However what makes WoW so fun is your *skill* level can mean you can take out groups"

This is the problem, not the bonus of WoW - it's not about skill in PLAYING, it's about how you are specced. In my opinion, there is more actual *skill* to being able to take out 3v1 (yes it can be done), *because* the classes are more closely matched. Besides which, your spec does make a lot of difference in group combat. It is certainly true that WAR is designed to be a team game; a single group of 6 players working together can demolish an entire warband of over 30 if they are *skilled* enough at working together. I mean, seriously run rings around them.

But it isn't about button mashing and being smug about your spec and/or your gear. It's about position, visibility, herding the enemy, ambushing, predicting their moves and most importantly having a competent leader to orchestrate the attack. This is much closer to 'real' strategy than one person being a living god because s/he's played more PvE than anyone else.

Personally I love this style of gameplay much more than the solo spec skill of WoW, YMMV ;)

"Players can now use crafted items to summon a single player within their group, or all of their group-mates."
That's a very nice little stealth add on! :D

What Andrew said...

WoW has reached such a critical mass that expectations of 'perfection' (ie; perception from the masses point of view) on release always fall short, despite the fact that WoW was bugged at release too, just like all the other mmos.

Your post history shows your valuable contribution to the world.

I'm here to inform anyone thinking of buying this game that it's easily the most fun online game I've played, and I've been playing online games since Quake 1. I also know a lot of people who agree with me.

It can be a blood pumping mash-fest where you and your guildies take on twice the number of people just through pure organisation and skill and win the day. Tactics, organisation, timing (knowing when to attack as well as doing more than key mashing) mean a small group of people can lock zones faster than the zerging masses have time to react.

This game, despite the comments I've seen to the contrary, can be very much about so called 'gank' groups (as they're referred to in the previous Massively article) and your 6 man selection of classes can be more powerful against even a zerg than many think. 6v30? Yep, you can take out a whole warband with the right people.

I see the same people coming back to this site and making the same dumb comments about how it sucks (I don't mean you digest :P) - why are these people spreading their crap on these comments when they presumably don't play the game? We get it - *you* don't like it, fair enough, why keep coming back and saying useful adages like "lol fail" and "people still play this? Hurrrr". Unless... unless they're actually still playing? In which case wtf guys find something you enjoy and stop spreading the hate :P

I understand it's not for everyone, but if you want massive PvP battles, this is *the* game.

But... I would agree with the above posting on it being dull if the following applies:

1) You're in tier 4 and not in a guild / tiny guild - seriously you aren't seeing half the game if you're not in a guild or your guild is very small.
2) You always play in PUG groups.... and related to that:
3) You want to mostly play solo
4) You don't like PvP and want to raid. WoW is of course the leader in PvE MMO.

The best solution to most of the negative stuff I've seen here* is just to join a larger organised guild that actually wants to do PvP, which has people that will actually lead you to victory and not just zerg about, and isn't just interested in killing AI baddies. After all, what's more fun, killing predictable AI over and over or smooshing the other side through cunning plans ;)

* except lag, oh there is plenty of that ;) the lag is the biggest problem with this game (hence why my guild usually avoids the zerg), followed by yeah we know, dodgy forts and capital cities. They'll improve over time as Mythic know it needs fixing but to be honest if you're only interested in getting phat loot then in all honesty WoW would be better for ya :) This game is about PvP, not loot, not ranking your renown.

Queue the anti-war posts telling me it's their duty to inform the masses how since they hate it therefore everyone will *yawn*.

Wow... it's like the wishlist from heaven! They even changed the viper pit image for destruction from altorf, hehe!

Also, new mounts :3 New guild mounts with different abilities... B-)

"You can see it in how sadly un-ambitious the development schedule for the next five months is, too"

I'm sorry what?! Please tell me you haven't seen the free expansion, adding an entire new land/dungeons, etc & 2 new careers coming out over the next few months...?

When you compare 300k people vs 11m, I sometimes wonder if WAR will ever be able to escape the ideals of WOW players. Not that that's a bad thing, just sayin'

For everyone who isn't having fun in T4 - find a better guild. Honestly, this game *requires* you to play with people.

PUGing it at t4 is a very lonely experience, whereas playing with an active guild (>20 people online) is absolutely awesome. This game shines when you are able to do this, and seems empty and boring when you can't. I know because I've done both.

Honestly, there's nothing like killing the opposing realm in a premade group, the tactics are endless, and the fun comes thick and fast. If you're not experiencing this (CTD's etc notwithstanding), find a bigger guild and try it :)